WASHINGTON — One flew an A-10 Warthog over Iraq and Afghanistan. Another was part of the 29th Infantry Brigade’s medical operations near Baghdad. A third lost both legs and partial use of an arm in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Iraq.

All are war veterans aiming to serve in Congress. All reflect an evolving U.S. military. All are female.

After more than a decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, dozens of military veterans — Republicans and Democrats — are running for Congress this election year as voters have shown a fresh enthusiasm for candidates with no elected experience. This year, as the military has opened more jobs to women closer to the front lines, several of those veterans are women with battlefield scars and pioneering accomplishments.

Tammy Duckworth was a captain in the Army National Guard and sent to Iraq in 2004. She lost both her legs in November of that year when the Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was struck but landed safely. In her second bid for Congress, the Democrat and former assistant secretary at Veterans Affairs hopes to wrest a northern Illinois seat from Republican Rep. Joe Walsh, a Tea Party freshman whose comments have stirred controversy.

Republicans and Democrats consider the 44-year-old Duckworth the favorite.

Tulsi Gabbard was a specialist with the medical unit of the 29th Brigade of the Army National Guard and a military police platoon leader who helped train the Kuwaiti national guard’s counterterrorism unit. The 31-year-old stunned Hawaii’s political establishment this month with a come-from-behind win in the Democratic primary.

The former Honolulu City councilwoman is favored in the Democratic-leaning district in November.

Martha McSally, an Air Force Academy graduate, is the first women to fly a fighter aircraft in combat and the first to command a fighter squadron. She is expected to clinch the Republican nomination in Arizona’s Aug. 28 primary and likely will face Democratic Rep. Ron Barber in a redrawn district once represented by Gabrielle Giffords.

That expected match-up is considered a toss-up.

“We’re breaking barriers, and there’s more that needs to come,” Duckworth said in an interview. “Women who have worn the uniform (serving) in Congress will help nudge things along.”

McSally, 46, points out that the oath for a military officer — to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic — is the same for a member of Congress.

“I served my country in uniform for 26 years,” she said. “I personally consider this (congressional bid) just a continuation of my service to my country.”

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